Survival Guide for a HoF-from-scratch party (spoilers)

[Kyrvias]

That seems logical enough.

[Roboghost]

What I do for HoF {whilst I eat my apple here}:

1. Do beetles with staves first
2. Do all the non-fight missions next.
3. Town goblins: I wouldn't do HoF without a ranger or thief...you can nail all but one with the shadow trick. Do the first two in shadow, then there is one that will have to be drawn to your party, then the rest can be taken out in shadow as well.
4. Wolf: You should still have all your original spells saved: use ALL of them on the little furball -- kill it for the points!
5. Wolves: Rest up and you should now have more spell possibilities: use them all again to wipe them out. It helps to turn one with a ranger or druid, otherwise it will be hard.
6. Orcs: One group at a time: I went single class druid...I find it too hard in HoF without one. I'm DC'ing a thief to cleric [by the time I hit HoW, I'll have a rockin' thief & cleric in one character], so I neeeed a single class priest of sorts. The druid can do BOTH big groups with entangle and spike growth (use Curse prior to spike growth). Just trap them in a small passage and pluck arrows at them. Usually an Ogre or two ends up getting through...have one guy run around while you range 'em to death (two can be tricky though...must play retreat at the same time -- hit 'em with Alicorn Lance if you can). The other important factor in all this is to have ONE good archer. I'm going though game with a gnome fighter/illusionist and it's harder not having a DC fighter/mage who maxes out the bow*** first!

Kuldahar Pass:
Druid Power:
Group One: entangle / curse / spike growth
Chicken Group: one at a time you'll need healing potions and spells here [and kill chickens if you wish "Bawk!".]
Group Two:
a. entangle / spike growth (I have one each left at this point
b. beetles -- you'll have 4-6 ready to battle the charging group while you range 'em. Take the last few with your fighters if the beetles are all dead.

Single file up to the tower and rest: The rest of HoF is easy for me after this...my party is getting powerful enough at this point.

Another idea is to have a single class cleric, but you'll have to have good archer power to go along with them [two of the following: a DC fighter with *** in bows or Elf Ranger or Halfling (or Elf) Fighter/Thief or Elf Fighter/Mage]:
Skeleton Power...They only take half-damage to all the goblins dish out...while you pluck them with range weapons. In other words: it is possible to never retreat from a single battle if you have a single class priest on your side in HoF.

My party (I've changed from an earlier party -- my 1 billionth):
Human Paladin
Dwarf Fighter*
Elf Druid
Human Thief (17)/Cleric**
Half-Elf Bard
Gnome Fighter/Illusionist***
*I think it's weird having a Gnome with 18/00 for some reason - technically they should only max out to 18 [1 point above a Halfling].
**this gal ROCKS...I played one to later stages, can't live without now!
***will be able to self-Haste himself wearing The Helm and shoot arrows like a machine gun...that's my plan anyway ; ) Besides, having a +3 helm on the head of your mage is satifying in itself.

>>>I wanted to try and get more races in my party ["fun factor"] -- a little less "power-party", but will be quite powerful later with my advanced planning: example: my Dwarf is going to get that DEX to 18 with two random potions at the sacrifice of a CON point : ) {this means my cleric is not going to have a 20 WIS though...boo, hiss.}>>>

[krunchyfrogg]

Why play that Thief/Cleric to such a high Thief level?

[Kyrvias]

Who knows.

[Roboghost]

Thief (17) / Cleric:
<<>>

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.
.
.
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When you hit "Tiers of the Death", your thief will be switching over to Cleric. You don't need a thief after Tiers of the Death, but you do when you boat over to "Burial Isle" in HoW. You should have yourself a Thief (17) / Cleric (18) by the time you reach Burial Isle.

>>>3,790,000 points* x 6 party members = 22,740,000 total party points needed: you'll have this by the time you finish dropping in all 6 badges and go see the dude in Kuldahar to "wind" you over to Lonelywood and do a mini-quest or two pre-B. Isle]>>> *1,540,000{17} + 2,250,000{18} = 3,790,000

Thief:
Level 16: Sneak Attack hits 5d6
Level 17: Cripple Strike hits -4
Evasion also goes up, but I'm not sure how it improves after it kicks-in at level 7{?}

Put a +5 club in the hand of an 18/00 strength and go whack a beast on the back of the head during the heat of battle [and you've finished up your cleric-boost spells] -- that's gotta hurt!

If you're going to DC in HoF...you might as well do it in style with those boat-loads of points you get.

[Aerich]

I'm still not sold on the idea of a high level dual class thief/cleric as a viable melee option. I've played the type, dualing at lvl 12 or so, but I played it as a support character/cleric, not for any melee benefits. I wanted a thief but didn't want to have any character unable to cast spells.

Any warrior-based dual class could do just as well with the items you mentioned, if not better. A fighter 17 with two PP in club gets 2.5 attacks/round, essentially trading the one-shot per enemy sneak attack and crippling strike for another 1.5 attacks per round.

[Aerich]

The dreaded double post rears its ugly head; I wanted to address the T/C debate in a different post from my latest update.

I took down Yxunomei in one try...

The key was Confusion. I Confused two of the yuan-ti mages and all of Y's support archers and priests after casting Recitation. The summons and heavy use of Entangle/Web kept Y away from my party, for the most part. I hammered her with Chromatic Orbs, none of which worked, although she did get caught for one round in a Web, giving me about 50 HP worth of free hits for the F/T sniper and the single tank that engaged her along with the summons. I also got her with Slow, which helped. The druid alternated between Spike Growth into the spelltrap area and Static Charge to help take down the confused mages, then mopped up with Sunscorch and Alicorn Lance.

Piece of cake. I didn't even use all of my summons or damage spells.

Edit: to be of more help from a tactical perspective...

The easiest way to do this fight, IMO, is to set your formation then trigger the dialogue. Instead of charging, one character with a free action ring triggers the dialogue and runs back near the party (but not too near, see below). Place summons between that character and the doorway, and hit the doorway with all the AoE spells you can, while taking measures to neutralize the mages (Acid Arrow, Vitriolic Sphere, Entangle, Spike Growth, Confusion).

Y casts Cloudkill, Animate Dead, and Dispel. Of the three, dispel is by far the most deadly. I believe it is centred on the party member who triggers the dialogue. In order to prevent it from hitting and dispelling your entire party, keep the dialogue triggerer well out in front with summons just in front of it. The rest of the party should be fairly clustered, so they can support each other in melee against the yuan-ti mages if necessary.

[ 11-30-2005, 02:50 AM: Message edited by: Aerich ]

[Aerich]

Updating on not-so-recent progress...

Severed Hand - summons, mass spells (Prayer, Recitation, Slow), missiles, and more summons.

The paladin had a decent enough AC to go toe-to-toe with a Bladed Skeleton for a few rounds with the Shocking Flail (Serrated Skeletons were a different matter), if supported by appropriate spells (all the usual suspects) and concentrated attacks. The R/C was also a notably effective bonecrusher, if a little more fragile.

The first three levels had some nasty battles - summons and movement-inhibiting spells are vital because enemies are so numerous. Use anything and everything to cut the odds. The fighter/druid continued its new-found top ranking in damage caused with Spike Growth and Static Charge. Make sure that any characters not in melee are hammering on the shattered souls from range - you want them to spend their turns passing HP to each other or to skeletons, not draining you.

In the towers, get used to using at least one summoning spell per level. Tho acolytes on the second level of the cleric tower took me to school because I was too nonchalant. The second time around, I had to use four rounds of summons to avoid being overrun. It is critical to place your summons appropriately in the warriors' tower (near the pockets of archers) or you will be cut to pieces.

I shudder at the thought of pillaging the Severed Hand without the tandem of druid and cleric. You need every defensive spell you can get (I count summons as primarily defensive spells too), and Static Charge gives you high, regular damage without actually needing to spend combat rounds casting the spell.

The first couple maps of Upper Dorns are relatively easy - neo-orogs and ambulatory toadstools can do you some damage, but they aren't dangerous if you don't get careless, or unlucky with your saving throws against the spores. Ettins are big hitters no matter what AC you have, so keep the party out of melee range using summons, run-and-gun, or both. It's interesting to note that they only save against Chromatic Orb about half the time.

Drow are suckers for Stinking Cloud and Spike Growth. Sometimes you can separate the spellswords from their vanguard & sorceror allies, and it is prudent to try. I'm not sure if drow can resist Static Charge or not, but it seems to hit fairly often. The combination of Insect Swarm and summons is effective against the sorcerors, and I always made the vanguards the primary target of my party. Two poison darts can kill the toughest character, so either get up close and personal quickly, or get after them with undead summons. I prefer the first method, because undead don't last very long. Direct damage spells are of course a gamble against drow, and for the most part I didn't bother.

A bit of micromanagement here doesn't go amiss. You are toast if the drow (particularly spellswords) manage to break your formation; you are fine if you can control where and against who (or what) the drow fight. Tailor your strategy against each individual drow by its function. Disrupt/distract spellcasters, get the archers into melee ASAP, and distract the spellswords until the vanguards go down, then focus fire on the spellswords. Sorcerors can be left until last once they've been neutralized in the opening rounds because they aren't a threat to cause damage if they can't cast.

Krilag's Caverns - easy peasy. No new or startling tactics needed here. Just control the fights and watch out for neo-orogs taking a different corridor and coming after your vulnerable casters instead of your highly-protected tank or meatshields.

Next up is the lich, which I have not fought yet - although I've cleared the lower tiers. I know from past experience that the greatest threats here are Horror (lich) and Symbol of Hopelessness (mummies). The bard will be singing an appropriate song (Curran's or Tymora's) and the first casting of the fighter/mage will be Acid Arrow. I'll have the F/T raining arrows on it too, and hopefully between the two I can prevent it from casting. Ideally, I'll take down the greater mummies before taking down the lich, because there's nothing more frustrating than having to take it down twice or more due to poor timing. Hopefully the pally and R/C can take down one between them while summons occupy the other and the horde of lesser undead. The F/D will have those Static Charges going which will hopefully destroy some of the undead. The F/M will cast Acid Arrow x2, then Slow, then start whittling things down (Skull Trap...) with particular attention to ghouls. Once the lich is engaged, the bard will likely be called into service against the lesser undead, although I may try to freeze it with a Chromatic Orb instead so the F/T can turn its attention to other matters.

I'll let you know how this turns out when I get to it. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 01-12-2006, 02:57 AM: Message edited by: Aerich ]

[Dundee Slaytern]

About the Greater Mummies, one tip.

Chaotic Commands.

[ister]

Yeah, but it's tough to put CC on the entire team, so you still have to be careful.

About horror, why not just use remove fear (1st level) and forget about it?